Game 22: Bills 24, Steelers 21

You see, we Americans dump off the work we won't do to foreigners. Work like crop-picking, janitorial services, landscaping... and watching preseason football games.

From the Rogers Centre, nee Skydome, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, eh? - we've got the Bills vs. the Steelers, in what we'll call the 2008 NAFTA Bowl.

Mewelde Moore returns a short kick only to the 22. Good directional kick coverage, which Bills special teams coach Bobby April never got to work here, by Buffalo. Naked bootleg screen on the opening play; Big Ben Roethlisberger avoids the DE and manages to make the play work for 7.

NOW, CAN I PLEASE GET ALL NFL OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS TO REMOVE THIS STUPID PLAY FROM THEIR PLAYBOOKS?

Continuing to embrace the Canadian nature of tonight's game, the introduction of the Steeler starting offense is sponsored by Tim Horton's. Willie Parker loses .94 meters. Big Ben hits Santonio Holmes on a square out for 13. Parker gets a couple off left tackle. Aaron Schobel nearly gets Ben on 2nd down, but he escapes and hits Hines Ward on the sideline at the Buffalo 35. Man that Roethlisberger is hard to bring down when he's not on a motorcycle. Quick hitch to Ward for 5. 4 for Parker gives us 3rd-and-1. Parker gets a couple but Justin Hartwig held. 3rd-11 from the Buffalo 37. Great pressure by Chris Kelsay for Buffalo forces a BRUTAL hold by Willie Colon and flushes Ben out of the pocket, where his on-the-run throw is picked off by Donte Whitner. Ben had a receiver, but Ko Simpson flashed in and deflected it to Whitner. People have been saying the Steelers have issues at the tackles; that sure showed up this drive.

Bills at their 33. Trent Edwards hits Lee Evans on a deep out for 23. Lynch runs a pattern upfield for and 8-yard catch, then runs a counter left for 7. 1st-down incomplete for the TE underneath. Edwards getting good protection. Lynch cuts back left for 11. Bills in the red zone. They try to beat a blitz with an inside handoff to Lynch but he gets just one. Quick pass to Evans makes it first and goal at the 8. Draw to Lynch for 2. I really hate Buffalo's current uniforms in all-blue. The throwbacks looked SO much better last week. Steelers got away with some holding in the end zone, it looked like. Edwards' pass falls harmlessly incomplete. 3rd-goal. Edwards hits Robert Royal between three Steelers in the back of the end zone for a TD. 7-0 Bills. Nice catch by Royal.

Two big things about that drive. Buffalo protected Edwards extremely well, and he looked damn confident in the pocket, played with a ton of poise and threw very accurately. I made fun of Trent Edwards last preseason, but right now, I'd give ya Marc Bulger for him.

Carey Davis returns the kick to Pittsburgh's 32. Starters still in. Parker off right tackle for 6. Quick pass up the seam to Matt Spaeth for 16 across midfield. Bubble screen to Parker for 4, then a run left for 1 leaves 3rd-and-5. False start, 3rd-and-10. Ben gets flushed out of the pocket and has to throw it away. Buffalo has a good defensive line; they're getting pressure on Ben just rushing 4. Don't see a lot of blitzing there. Steelers punt.

Bills start at their 10. Edwards holds the ball way too long this time and is sacked by James Harrison, beat LT Langston Walker. Lynch loses another nice run to a hold. 2nd-18 from the 2. Lynch gets about 5. Bills OL really controlling the LOS. Hey, the first quarter's already over. 7-0, Buffalo.

Steelers overload the left side and blitz, but Edwards escapes it and runs away with a 22 yard gain and a first down. Aw, Pittsburgh, how could ya do that on THIRD AND 12??? Fred Jackson now in for Lynch, gaining 3. Another blitz beater, quick pass to Roscoe Parrish, gains Buffalo 16 out to the 47. All the Steeler blitzers are getting picked up right now. 23 to Lee Evans. The Steeler blitz is not getting through fast enough. Jackson barely keeps his feet to gain 5 on a screen. Bad tackle by Ryan Clark. Should have lost 5. Jackson over the right side for 6. Buffalo's in the red zone again. Jackson over the right side again, for 6. Now Edwards dumps off to Jackson, but for no gain. 3rd and 4 from the Steeler 13. Edwards hits Royal at the 3, and he splits two defenders for the TD. Wow, I'm not drafting the Pittsburgh defense in FFL this year. 14-0, Buffalo.

Steelers take over from their 25. Ben remains in at QB. 24 to Ward on a seam route. Rashard Mendenhall in for Parker, no gain. 3rd-8 from midfield, false start. 3rd-13. First down to Moore off a simple circle route. How come nobody had him? From the 40, beautiful pass from Ben to the lethal deep man Holmes in the end zone for a 40-yard TD. Holmes burned (it's not your booty, it's) Youboty, and the safety George Wilson was late getting over. 14-7, 6:26 left in the half.

Leodis McKelvin gets shut down at the 18 on the kick return. JP Losman takes over at QB for Buffalo. Jackson gains 4 into the teeth of a blitz. No gain on 2nd down, and Losman's sacked on third down. Harrison whipped Demetrius Bell at LT to flush Losman into Brett Keisel. That's just a strong bull rush by Harrison. Punt, Buffalo.

Steelers open in good field position at their 43. The NFL welcomes back Byron Leftwich, and he GUNS one to Nate Washington for 25. Mendenhall gets a couple. Quick hitch to Washington goes for 6 yards. 3rd-2 from the Bills 24. Leftwich throws much too hard for the TE on a short underneath route. On 4th down, Jeff Reed YAKKS on a 41-yarder. Score remains 14-7.

Bills are at their 32 with 2:31 left in the half. Dwayne Wright gains 8 as Buffalo lets the clock run down to 2:00. Crappy play by Parrish in the flat, failing to get out of bounds with a short catch. Got a first down, though. Nick Eason bats down the Losman pass on 1st down. On 3rd-and-7, nobody seems real interested in using their timeouts. The clock runs all the way down to 0:38 before Buffalo TO's. Finally. Losman's dropped with authority by Lawrence Timmons for a sack to force a punt. Steelers have 6 seconds to do something from their 30. Leftwich gets sacked and loses the ball. Spencer Johnson stepped out of bounds attempting to recover it and Pittsburgh keeps the ball. Should have been a challenge there. Pittsburgh runs out the clock; we're 14-7, Buffalo at halftime. Steelers got very lucky that fumble recovery didn't go Buffalo's way.
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I'm very impressed with Buffalo's offensive and defensive lines. Pittsburgh pulled out lots of blitzes but didn't get good pass pressure and didn't stop the run well. Trent Edwards looked like he can deal as well as anybody if you keep his shirt clean. Paul Posluszny continues to be everywhere on D. I continue to have enthusiasm about Buffalo's future. Santonio Holmes continues to be a big playmaker for Pittsburgh, and while James Harrison was in at DE, he dominated.


Buffalo will start the 2nd half at their 30 after Leodis McKelvin's return. Losman hands off to Wright up the middle for 8. Wright gets 5 more as Buffalo's controlling the LOS again right off the bat. Couple of more touches for Wright sets up 3rd-and-2 at midfield. They run away from a blitz, and Wright gains 16 off left tackle. 6 to Felton Huggins on 1st down, but Buffalo can't get the rest in two runs. They kick on 4th-and-1, and Lindell hits from 43 to give them a 17-7 lead.

Willie Reid sets Pittsburgh up at the 35 with a good return. Gary Russell breaks tackles for a 6-yard gain. A couple for Mendenhall over the right side. Rashard's not getting much done tonight. Leftwich's 3rd-down pass is knocked down by Spencer Johnson, who has played well.

Matt Baker is Buffalo's new QB. They start from their 8, was there a penalty on the punt return? Naked bootleg screen to Jonathan Evans for 3. A Wright fumble knocks them back to the 5. That was a problem for him last week, too. 3rd-14. Draw to Bruce Hall comes up a few yards short. Did Wright get the hook?

Eddie Drummond brings the punt back to the 38. Mendenhall's swarmed for a 2-yard loss. Leftwich fires high and wild on 2nd down. Nice pass breakup by Bryan Scott on 3rd down. The punt bounces backward and Steve Johnson of the Bills lights up a big "CUT ME" sign over his head by idiotically letting it touch him. Pittsburgh recovers, and they're right back in business. Mendenhall spins out of trouble behind the LOS and bangs for 9 down to the 9. 2nd-and-1, Mendenhall finds out you can't roller skate in a Buffalo herd and loses 1. He gets the first on the next try, though. 1st-and-goal from the 8. Pittsburgh analyst points out Mendenhall continues to run too upright. He did that last week, too. But then Mendenhall busts off left tackle for the easy TD. Bills 17, Steelers 14, about 2:00 left in the third.

McKelvin hits a seam, leaves the kicker Ernster in the dust with a fake, and has as easy a kickoff return TD as you'll see. Another reason to be enthused about Buffalo's chances this year. He made a big return last week. A big reason you can tell McKelvin's for real is that he puts the fake on the kicker and finishes off the TD. How many times this summer have dummies let themselves get tackled by the kicker? Anyways, Buffalo's 10-point lead is back, 24-14.

Bills use a pop-up kick and stop Pittsburgh at the 22. Again, a play April never got to work in St. Louis. Steelers get a first down across the 33 to run out the 3rd quarter.

Limas Sweed opens the 4th quarter with a nasty drop. Reid has an even worse drop on 3rd down. Leftwich hit him right in the breadbasket. No gain for McKelvin after fielding the punt at his 19.

Xavier Omon in the game at RB for Buffalo. Holding on Steve Johnson tackling a blitzer. Omon for 1. Pointless screen pass and punt are imminent. OK, inside handoff.

Dennis Dixon is the Pittsburgh QB now. Short pass to Dallas Baker. 3rd-3 at midfield, 12 men in the huddle for Pittsburgh. 3rd-8. Dixon scrambles for 7, creating a 4th-and-1. They fake a sweep left and bootleg Dixon right. He goes up the sideline, gets a downfield block from Sweed, and sprints 46 yards for a TD. 24-21. Dixon can play this game tape for anybody with questions about the soundness of the knee he hurt last year. 4:31 left.

Gibran Hamdan will finish at QB for Buffalo. Drive starts at their 21. Only problem for Pittsburgh is that Omon's tearing off 9-10 yards a rush. They're at the Steeler 43 at the 2:00 warning. Steelers
burn through all their timeouts and have to stop Buffalo on 4th and 1 at their 38 to get the ball back. Hamdan can't draw them offsides and calls his own timeout. Not a clutch punt by Buffalo - guess where it lands.

Pittsburgh from their 20, 1:37 left, no timeouts. Youboty flashes in for a sack outside of RT Jeremy Parquet. Huge loss for Dixon. 2nd down, Dixon has to get rid of the ball. 3rd down from the 6, he finds Dallas Baker OVER THE MIDDLE FOR 25. What the F was Buffalo doing there? Incompletion stops the clock at 0:32. Dixon's 2nd down throw is behind Baker incomplete. Steelers pick up the blitz nicely but Dixon way overthrows Sweed. 4th and 10, 23 seconds left. ANOTHER clutch completion, to Baker for 20+. They get the clock stopped with a spike and are at the Buffalo 43 with six seconds left. Whoa, looked like Micah Rucker got his hands on the Hail Mary pass in the end zone, but it ends up knocked on the ground for the win for Buffalo. That was a flat out drop by Rucker. The Bills didn't really hit him or get a piece of the ball. He simply dropped it. The lady at the unemployment office will see you now.

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Pittsburgh had three sacks, but Buffalo was in control of the line of scrimmage most of the game. The Steelers especially look like they're in trouble at OT. That aside, nice games by Harrison, Holmes and Dixon. Tough game for Mendenhall, though. I still really like what the Bills have got going, and it looks like they made a super move drafting McKelvin, who looks like the next Devin Hester. Omon bounced back well from last week, fumble-prone Wright didn't.

Well, I was hoping to get more than one game in tonight, but I'll take what I can get.

This makes 22 down, 43 to go.

Up next: BFF's home debut against the Redskins.